Process for making cereal food



y 8,- 1941. H. K. WILDER 2,248,292

PROCESS FOR MAKING CEREAL FOOD Filed Aug. 5, 1939 FLHKL'D WHEAT WAT E2 BREAD HHMMEIZ 7 MIL L Illllllll lIIIlllllllllll EDT/Q2) M DE/EZ Dal/671 MIXER MAINTAINED HT CUNTZOL LED TEMP ELLET/ 2 l3 CYL FINES T045 TING OVE N J INVENTOR HAROLD K W/LDEZ Patented July 8, 1941 I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,248,292 PROCESS FOR MAKING CEREAL Foon Harold K. Wilder, Palo Alto, calif as signor to Stanley S. Langendorf, San Francisco, Calif.

Application August 5, 1939, Serial No. 288,619

6 Claims. (01. 99-43) This invention relates in general to a process pounds of sugar, 2 pounds of salt, and 15 pounds for preparing a cereal food comprising discrete of water. From the hopper the seasoned mixture particles of baked seasoned dough having a poris introduced into a rotary cooker 3, where it is ous and friable or crunchy texture. cooked for a period of approximately 30 minutes As a result of considerable development work 5- under a steam pressure of approximately 15 I have found that in order to makebaked dough pounds gauge. The required steam may be inparticles porous and friable, they must have introduced through an intake 4 and after the cookcorporated in them some dried comminuted ma-' ing operation has been completed the resulting terial and be formed under predetermined temdough may be partially cooled and dehydrated perature and viscosity conditions. to a moisture content of'from about 20% to 35% In general, the object of this invention .is the (dry solid basis) by passing air through the cookprovision of a process of making a cereal food of er by an air exhaust 5. discrete particles of baked dough wherein the dey 40 pounds of this partially dehydrated dough sired porous and friable texture of such particles are thoroughly mixed in a water-jacketed dough is obtained by the incorporation of dried, commixer 6 with 2 /2 pounds of malt or other syrup, minuted bread in the dough from which such 3 pounds of mineral oil, and '75 pounds of bread particles are formed. which has been ground in a' hammer mill I to Another object ofthe invention is the formapass through a 2-mesh screen. The bread'used tion of said particles under pressure and in the for this purpose is preferably stale although not presence of an edible lubricant. otherwise dried. Another portion of the bread Still another object of the invention is the use as discharged from the mill I, is dried'in a rotary of a controlled temperature during the formadrier 8 to a moisture content of from about 2% tion of said particles. to 20% (dry solid basis) and passed through a Further objects and advantages of the invencomminutor 9, which reduces the product'to a tion will appear in the following description of size that will pass through a-i-mesh screen.

the preferred embodiment of my process. It Approximately pounds of this dried and should however be understood that I do not inground bread are then introduced into the dough tend to limit myself to the details as so described 4 mixer 6 and thoroughly mixed with the seasoned and as shown in the annexed drawing, since my dough which has already been incorporated with process as defined in the claims appended hereto the ground stale bread. It is quite feasible to add may be carried out in a number of equivalent both the undried and dried ground bread to the Way mix simultaneously or to add all of the bread y In the drawing annexed hereto and forming content in the form of ground dried bread, but I part of this specification, a flow diagram of the have found that by first adding and mixing the preferred manner of carrying out my process is ground undried bread and then adding and mixshown. I v ing theground dried bread, the final product will In general, my process comprises the preparahave a more pleasing texture. tion of a dough formed by suitably cooking an The mineral oil is added as a lubricant to-aid intimate seasoned mixture of flaked grain and in the subsequent formation of discretedough bran in the presence of water, adding to such 40 particles or pellets of suitable texture, and for dough at least an equivalent quantity of dried the same reason the viscosity of the mix is concomminuted bread, forming discrete particles of trolled by maintaining the mixer 6 under a conthe resulting bread mixture in the presence of an trolled temperature of from about to 120 F. edible lubricant suchas mineral oil and under For this purpose the mixer 6 is provided with an controlled temperature conditions, and then bak- 45 insulated water jacket through which fluid at a ing such particles to a point where they become suitable temperature may be circulated. friable or crunchy. The product so obtained is After the dough in the mixer 6 has been thordescribed more in detail in my co-pending apoughly incorporated with the comminuted bread plication, Serial No. 288,618, filed August 5, 1939. and other ingredients'it is formed into pellets or More specifically, and as diagrammatically indiscrete particles by passing it through a pelletdicated in the drawing, 10 pounds of flaked wheat izer l2. These particles should preferably be are thoroughly mixed and disintegrated with 3 anywhere from about A," to A" indiameter, alpounds of water in a rotary mixer I. The disthough they are by no means regular in size or integrated flaked wheat is then dumped into a shape. The pelletizer I 2 may be of the extrudhopper 2 together with pounds of bran, 45 'ing type having a rotaryworm for propelling the dough under pressure against a perforated plate. The dough passes through the plate under considerable pressure and emerges in the form of spaghetti which is then cut into small pieces by a. rotary knife revolving against the perforated plate. Although it is essential that the pressure developed during theformation of the dough particles or pellets be such that the material forming each pellet will adhere together to form compact units, care must be taken not to use too great a pressure, for otherwise the resulting pellets will not have the desired friable and crunchy texture. In order to relieve the pressure somewhat, the orifices in the plate through which the dough is made to pass should be tapered so as to have a greater diameter at the outer face than pellets and to overcome this tendency it is necessary to dry the extruded dough slightly 'prior to the separation of the lines from the pellets. For this purpose the extruded dough is passed through a downwardly sloping rotary cylinder i3, the exit end portion of which is perforated so as to permit the fines to pass through it. Hot air is passed through the rotary cylinder l3 and serves to dry the extruded dough sufilciently so that there will be very little adhesion between the fines and the pellets by the time that the material reaches the perforated section of the cylinder. Preferably the rotary cylinder is substantially as shown in my copending application, Serial No. 288,620, filed August 5, 1939, and is provided with flights for tumbling the dough particles and effecting a better heat exchange. For the size of the pellets or particles commonly manufactured, the perforations in the cylinder may be in the order of 7, in diameter. It is essential to pass hot air over the extruded dough not only for the purpose of decreasing the adherence between the fines and the pellets, but for the further purpose of partially baking the individual pellets so-that these pellets will not be broken up during the subsequent toasting operation.

The fines from the rotary cylinder l3 are returned to the dough mixer 6 and the semi-dried pellets are passed through a rotary oven H. In re-introducing the-fine and semi-dried extruded dough into the dough mixture, these fines are preferably added to another batch of dough after the addition of the comminuted bread from the hammer mill 1. The toasting oven l4 may be in the form of a perforated cylinder provided on its interior with a continuous propelling worm causing the material to move through it. The extruded pellets are toasted in the toaster II at a temperature between 250 and 450.F.and for a period of about 6 to 12 minutes. During'the toasting operation the product is converted from a rather soft but firm. mass into a solid crisp and friable golden brown product suitable for eatin cereal food of the so-called "breakfast food" ype.

The ratios of the quantities of ingredients used as above set forth are not critical, although it will be found that by following these ratios a very pleasing and tasty product can be produced.

Flaked wheat is used in preference to other flaked grain simply because of the resulting taste and texture.

Bran is used. for the reason that the bran particles appear to serve best in combination with the comminuted bread particles to given the desired nutritional value and to aid in preventing the dough content of each pellet from unduly packing and forming a final product too hard to be easily crunched by the teeth. The

best way of considering the product resulting from my process is that each individual pellet consists of crisp, dried bread particles bonded together by a dough, the major portion of which dough is undried comminuted bread. The comminuted bread is not introduced into the mix in advance of the mixer 6 for the reason that in subjecting the bread to the cooker 3 it would be rendered unsuitable for its intended function. It is also for this reason that the undried comminuted bread is preferably added to the mix prior to the introduction of the artificially dried bread.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. The process of making a cereal food, comprising: cooking an intimate mixture of flaked grain, bran, ordinary baked bread and seasoning in the presence of water to form a. dough; dehydrating said dough to a moisture content of from about 20% to 35%; forming discrete particles of said dough which has been mixed with an oily lubricant and comminuted dried bread; and then toasting said particles to a point where they become friable.

2. The process of making a cereal food, comprising: cooking an intimate mixture of flaked grain, bran, ordinary baked bread and seasoning in the presence of water and under substantially 15 pounds steam pressure for approximately 30 minutes in order to form a dough; dehydrating said dough to a moisture countent of from, about 20% to 35%; forming discrete particles of said dough which has been mixed with dried com' minuted bread and under a controlled temperature of from about 50 to F., and then toasting said particles to a point where they become friable.

3. The process of making a" cereal food, comprising: cooking an intimate mixture of flaked grain, bran, ordinary baked bread and seasoning in the presence of water and under substantially 15 pounds steam pressure for approximately 30 minutes in order to form a dough; dehydrating said dough to a moisture content of from about 20% to 35%; forming discrete particles of said dough which has been mixed with dried comminuted bread having a moisture content of from about 2% to 20% and under a controlled temperature of from. about 50 to 120 F., and then toasting said particles to a point where they become friable.

.4. The process of making a cereal food, comprising: preparing a seasoned dough of ordinary baked bread having a moisture content of fromabout 20% to 35%; forming pellets of said dough which has been mixed with substantially fully dried comminuted bread; and then toasting said pellets to a point where they become friable and crunchy. l

5. The process of making a cereal food, comprising: preparing a seasoned dough made from baked bread havin: a moisture content of from about 20% to 35%; forming pellets of said dough which has been mixed with dried comminuted bread; and then toasting said pellets to a point where they become friable and crunchy.

6. The process of making a cereal food from bread that includes the steps of comminutin ordinary baked, raisedploaves of bread, adding an aqueous sugar solution to part of such oomminuted bread to form a dough. removing the moisture from another part or said comminuted bread until relatively d y, bonding together the particles of bread so dried with the dough by thoroughly mixing the dough and partiaily dried bread, forming pellets of the mix-; ture and thereafter toasting said pellets to the HAROLD K. WILDER. 

